Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

bkoganbing The line between comedy and drama is thin and sharp in Getting Away With Murder. This film could easily have been a serious drama about a crisis of conscience.While watching poor Dan Aykroyd deal with his oh so overdeveloped sense of ethics I was reminded of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Do you remember in that film how at the political convention for statehood how James Stewart left and confessed how his conscience was in agony over the shooting of Liberty Valance. To which John Wayne properly replied, "you talk too much, think too much" and after that heart to heart talk Stewart goes back and starts his political career.All I could think of was that Ethics professor Aykroyd needed a good conversation with the Duke. He's contacted by the FBI who tells him that the kindly old German neighbor just might be a fugitive Nazi war criminal.Aykroyd realizes that American due process could leave Lemmon around for years so any man of conscience would just kill this guy. Which he resolves to do. Lemmon does die in this, but more I can't and won't say in this rather whacked out comedy which turns on Aykroyd's exquisite conscience. He so needed John Wayne to tell him he thought too much.Lily Tomlin brings her own brand of zaniness into the film as Lemmon's daughter. Still Getting Away With Murder will never rank in the most noted of either Jack Lemmon or Dan Aykroyd comedies.It was asking the audience to think too much.

Smalltowngod Dan Akroyd usually isn't very good by himself, but he did a good job on this movie. It's sardonically funny, and won't make you split your sides laughing, but it is entertaining and provides a good, non-mainstream movie that's more about the line between right and wrong than about getting a laugh, which it does anyway. The daughter is rather comical in her stoicness and reminds me of what Frau Farbinssina would be if she were less obnoxious.The older couple later in the movie is hysterical, but are not included enough in the later events. I wanted to see more of them.The movie as a whole needed more comic relief, since Akroyd himself is not amazingly funny, but he's far from some of the Hollywood idiots running around today doing anything for a cheap laugh. Humor that requires you to think and pay attention.

JDono Picked this up at Hollywood Video for four obvious reasons: Aykroyd, Tomlin, Lemmon, and the always lovely Bonnie Hunt. But holy cow, what a waste of talent. Lemmon is given nothing to do, Hunt's role is superfluous, and Tomlin's role isn't funny. Aykroyd is in virtually every scene, but since the writers didn't bother coming up with anything funny for him, he becomes tiresome after about fifteen minutes.I have no idea why this movie was made.

mattymatt4ever I got quite a lot of chuckles out of this movie. But does that make it a really good flick? Not necessarily. It's better than most people say it is (well, the few people who've seen it). Hell, I figured "Jack Lemmon's in the cast. How bad can this movie be?" Dan Aykroyd's career definitely isn't as successful as it was in the seventies--his SNL days. I still think he's very talented, but like Chevy Chase he's starting to fall into that ditch with other has-been SNL alumni of the seventies. Lily Tomlin is another veteran comic, but let's face it--what was the last big movie she was in? I love Dan and Lily, but they're two people who wouldn't surprise me if they were to do a bad movie, despite their talents. But actually, this isn't a bad movie at all. People may criticize the subject matter involving Nazi Genocide, but I'm flexible when it comes to comedy. I have a pretty dark sense of humor myself, and I don't mind dark humor at all and believe that almost anything can be made funny if handled in the right manner. "All in the Family" is one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, and the show constantly dealt with the subject of racism. There are a good deal of funny moments, though worthy of chuckles and not laughs. But the movie just lacks a certain energy. I can't point out exactly what could've been done better, but the film just has a bland feeling to it. It needed more bite.The acting is great, though. Aykroyd gives an enthusiastic performance. Lemmon performs the same way he would in any of his Oscar-winning films. And Tomlin is impressive as well, in a role that requires her to be somewhat dramatic and not the goofball she usually plays. So basically, what we have is a first-rate cast in a second-rate movie. As I said, not a bad movie--just needed more bite. My score: 6 (out of 10)